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Emi Honda

Posted: March 30, 2005
} Emi Honda By Robert Amos Flora and Fauna from the Growing Sea of Engines, an installation by Scott Evans, Emi Honda and Jordan McKenzie, at Open Space (510 Fort Street, 383-8833, until March 12.) Performance and musical event with the artists on March 5 at 8 pm. There is a freshness in the gallery. The tang and aroma of damp moss wafts on a slight breeze. It ripples the sheer curtains which hang against the backdrop. Above a bridge of sticks, on the side of a miniature mountain, an opening gives a glimpse of a mirrored cave. Tiny plastic trees and oddments, layered up like a wedding cake, slowly rotate on a turntable, before the gaze of a stationary camera. A video feed of this tiny utopia is projected hugely across the gallery wall. Wine glasses tinkle, shaggy lumps wiggle, and over it all two reed organs moan an alternating major and minor chord. Three Victoria artists have spent the past month creating Flora and Faun from the Growing Sea of Engines, this fantasy environment at Open Space. They come daily to water the growing things and to repair the little servo-motors which drive various “action” components of the room-sized installation. It’s a small scale infinity, a landscape without characters, which invites lingering - so little time, so much to see! Soctt Evans specializes in scavenging plastic components, umbrellas and bowling pins and copper pots. Jordan McKenzie is a musician whose soldering gun is rarely cool. The slow-spinning phonograph, tape loops and wine glass marimba are among his contributions. These two funky bricoleurs have allied themselves with the unusual and sensitive genius of Emi Honda, and the result is a bit like a model train set gone native. Honda grew up in the Japanese countryside and then lived in the city of Osaka. Thus, a mix of nature and technology comes naturally to her. She reminded me that technology is created by humans, and humans are part of nature. “There is no borderline,” she concludes. The artists acknowledged the inspiration of Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese animator and creator of films like Spirited Away, Totoro, and Nausicaa. Miyazaki’s films are often described as “cheerful” and “delightful”, but the Honda told me that “just behind the fun is a layer of sadness, creepiness, darkness.” This melancholy aura infuses their creation with a subtle mood of tender sadness. “I am not trying to make it look like Miyazaki’s work,” Honda went on, regarding his influence. “It just leaks out.” Probably you wouldn’t notice the effect if no one told you. Honda discovered Miyazaki when she was a child. A little later she found a picture of a g rove of trees which she kept as a talisman. When she arrived in Victoria and was taken to Goldstream Park she immediately recognized that this was her “dream place. If it wasn’t for Victoria,” she continued, “my style wouldn’t come out.” Make no mistake: her dream style is not strictly Super Natural B. C.. Contemplating things from this place, she asserts that “even here life is kind of hard and gross. I am trying to cheer myself up with my piece. The image we make is escapism, like Victoria.” I believe that many people in bigger, busier cities would find an irresistible refuge in this lovingly-constructed, home-made universe. But clearly Honda doesn’t see much chance to take such site-specific and ephemeral work on the road. This microcosmic, eloquent setting grew organically here, and as she says “I don’t want to lose my esthetic. Environment really affects me in a way.” The three artists are nourished by this opportunity for joyous and free creativity, each bringing unique skills and sensibility to the project. “It’s a learning experience, getting over having to deal with your own ego,” Jason McKenzie commented. The open-endedness of this show” - meaning that it is not complete, but evolves every day - “is very important to our process.” None of the artists can be sure of what will happen when his or her back is turned. The evolving skills of the three, their sympathetic philosophies, and their communal sympathy with our local environment have resulted in an installation which is a stream of consciousness in tangible form. Flora and Fauna from the Growing Sea of Engines is surprisingly a engaging creation, in an age when much contemporary art is austere and inaccessible. Ephemeral, collaborative, multi-media: this is many things, and it is truly a work of art. The musical “closing party” on Saturday, March 5 at 8 pm is recommended. ___________________________________________ Copyright © 2005Robert Amos Robert Amos is an artist and art writer who lives in Victoria, B.C.. He can be contacted by e-mail and you can view his paintings at www.robertamos.com